The present disclosure provides an interconnected corrugated carbon-based network and an inexpensive process for making, patterning, and tuning the electrical, physical and electrochemical properties of the interconnected corrugated carbon-based network.
In the pursuit of producing high quality bulk carbon-based devices such as organic sensors, a variety of syntheses now incorporate graphite oxide (GO) as a precursor for the generation of large scale carbon-based materials. Inexpensive methods for producing large quantities of GO from the oxidation of graphitic powders are now available. In addition, the water dispersibility of GO combined with inexpensive production methods make GO an ideal starting material for producing carbon-based devices. In particular, GO has water dispersible properties. Unfortunately, the same oxygen species that give GO its water dispersible properties also create defects in its electronic structure, and as a result, GO is an electrically insulating material. Therefore, the development of device grade carbon-based films with superior electronic properties requires the removal of these oxygen species, re-establishment of a conjugated carbon network, as well as a method for controllably patterning carbon-based device features.
Methods for reducing graphite oxide have included chemical reduction via hydrazine, hydrazine derivatives, or other reducing agents, high temperature annealing under chemical reducing gases and/or inert atmospheres, solvothermal reduction, a combination of chemical and thermal reduction methods, flash reduction, and most recently, laser reduction of GO. Although several of these methods have demonstrated relatively high quality graphite oxide reduction, many have been limited by expensive equipment, high annealing temperatures and nitrogen impurities in the final product. As a result, of these difficulties, a combination of properties that includes high surface area and high electrical conductivity in an expanded interconnected carbon network has remained elusive. In addition, large scale film patterning via an all-encompassing step for both GO reduction and patterning has proven difficult and has typically been dependent on photo-masks to provide the most basic of patterns. Therefore, what is needed is an inexpensive process for making and patterning an interconnected corrugated carbon-based network having a high surface area with highly tunable electrical conductivity and electrochemical properties.